Notes on a scorecard: Why playing Wednesday was good for Parker’s psyche

His name was dragged through the online gossip columns. He was a frequent topic and target on talk shows in San Antonio and beyond. His divorce has become fodder for mass-market magazines at the checkout lines across America.

It was understandable that a chance to play basketball was a welcome respite for the Spurs point guard from the whirling maelstrom in his private life. And he played like it with team-high totals of 21 points and seven assists that led the Spurs to a 103-94 victory over Chicago.

Parker was ready to play from the beginning of the game, scoring on a teardrop and nailing a 20-footer in the first four minutes of the game. He was one of the few bright spots in the first half for San Antonio as the Spurs muddled through their worst half of the season, falling behind by a 17-point margin late in the first half.

But Parker was solid throughout. And his big game is one of the biggest reasons why the Spurs were able to extend their NBA-best eight-game winning streak with a stunning second-half comeback.

Parker’s play was the biggest story in San Antonio’s impressive victory. Here are a few other topics and trends that I noticed in watching another Spurs victory after a another Spurs second-half comeback.

• It might be wise not to write off Tim Duncan yet. He looked like the Duncan of old with 16 points, a season-high 18 rebounds and five assists in a huge performance. It stopped his streak of three consecutive games with below double-figure scoring totals. He’ll never be the scoring machine he was earlier in his career, but he can still play a little basketball. The best reminder was his eight-point, nine-rebound effort in the third quarter, where he was the only Spur to play 12 minutes.

• Manu Ginobili had a remarkable turn from one half to the next. After hitting his first shot of the game, Ginobili missed his next five en route to a miserable 1-for-6 shooting effort in the first half. But he turned it around after the break, hitting all six of his shots in the second half to spur the comeback.

• When his team trailed by 15 late in the first half, Gregg Popovich made an unconventional decision when he pulled his team for a 20-second timeout in which he chose not to participate. “I think sometimes, it’s good to let the team figure things out by themselves,” Popovich said. “They don’t always need a coach to do that. They are professionals and they know what it takes.”

After a Chicago basket, the Spurs closed on a 9-2 run to first half. And then when the third quarter blitz is figured, San Antonio outscored the Bulls by a 46-14 margin after Popovich’s timeout to the end of the third quarter.

• San Antonio has been playing masterful defense in the third quarter during the recent run. The 37-12 spurt Wednesday was their biggest of the season, but they had a 21-14 third-quarter blitz against Oklahoma City and a 35-12 eruption against Philadelphia. The Spurs haven’t been outscored in a third quarter during the winning streak.

• It was a good decision by Popovich to start the third quarter starting Matt Bonner with hopes of spreading the floor. Bonner produced five points, but the gaps in the Chicago defense were huge in the third quarter. The Spurs took advantage by hitting 15 of 21 shots, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range. It helped spark San Antonio’s second-biggest scoring quarter of the season.

• As proficient as the Spurs were in the third quarter, Chicago was horrid. The Bulls were 6-for-23 from the field and scored only 12 points — their worst scoring period of the season.

• George Hill quietly had another strong offense game as he went 5-for-8 from the field for 14 points. He was active offensively, but struggled on the defense end as did all of the Spurs against Derrick Rose. But then again, who didn’t for San Antonio?

• It was interesting that the only Spur who did not see action was Tiago Splitter. Splitter was in good shape in the locker room, but it just seemed like the pace of the game didn’t suit his skills. Popovich was hesitant to bring him in during the first-half struggles. And when the offense was humming with Bonner and Antonio McDyess, Popovich didn’t want to change his chemistry.

• The difference in halves for San Antonio can be encapsulated in this statistic. In the first half, the Spurs made 10 of their 30 shots in the paint. In the second half, San Antonio was 14 for 18 in the paint.

• McDyess just keeps posting rebounding numbers. He grabbed nine caroms in 17 minutes Wednesday night, marking the fifth time in his last nine games he’s had at least eight rebounds. In only one of those games has he played more than 26 minutes. The Spurs’ oldest player still has some guile and a lot of rebounding ability.

• Chicago looked like a tired team in the second half after playing last night in Houston. The Bulls are supposed to be one of the most athletic young teams in the league. But you could see where something was missing late in the first half when they had a 17-point lead and had a chance to extend it but failed. It marked the fifth team this season the Spurs have played in the final game of a back-to-back and the third in the last four games.

• I remember covering Memphis’ run to the Final Four in 2008 and hearing John Calipari telling everybody within earshot that Rose was going to develop into the best point guard in the NBA one day. He’s really taken a step forward since then offensive, particularly by expanding his perimeter game. It’s going to be fun watching him and John Wall grow up together in the NBA during the next few years.